I'm currently involved in a multinationality class while studying japanese. So the only language we can use to communicate between all the students is english. As I can affirm, people form Thailand, Germany, China, India, Italy and many other countries have a strong accent and it's difficult to understand some of the words they're saying. Unless you know the pronunciation pattern from the original country it could be easy to misunderstand. Of course if the interlocutor is used to deal with different ELFs, the content of the speech won't be judged so harschly. However, I may say that a good intonation is important to leave a good impression to the audience, so even if the home-born accent, when it doesn't interfere with meaning, It wouldn't be an issue but when it comes to presentation to the audience is a main point in communication.

Please let me know your point of view. I'll be glad to discuss about this topic since I think it's an interesting one!

Hi Anne, 

I think your video can be useful provided that it is also discussed with the participants (students), whose attitudes towards foreign accents can affect the way they assess the effectiveness of communication. I agree with the previous replies as regards the difficulties that accent can cause and the central role that intonation plays in oral communication. 

I would like to share some ideas we took from Levis 2005 in a lecture we gave for our language department. 

In judgments of intelligibility, we must remember the role of language identity and language attitudes.

 “Accent is influenced not only by biological timetables but also by sociolinguistic realities. In other words, speakers speak the way they do because of the social groups they belong to or desire to belong to. The role of identity in accent is perhaps as strong as the biological constraints. Accent, along with other markers of dialect, is an essential marker or social belonging.”

I hope it is useful